China's gaokao begins with record 13.42 million candidates

China's national college entrance examination, known as the gaokao, kicked off on Friday with 13.42 million registered examinees, up 510,000 from last year, making it the largest-ever gaokao, according to figures released by the Ministry of Education.

Local authorities have bolstered support services, providing candidates with assistance with transportation, accommodation, medical care and noise control during the examination period.

More than 11,000 students with disabilities nationwide have been provided with special assistance to ensure access and participation in the examination. 

Among them, 15 visually impaired candidates across 11 provincial-level regions including east China's Jiangsu Province and southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region will have access to Braille exam papers.

This is the 11th consecutive year since 2014 that the education authorities have provided Braille papers for visually impaired candidates in the gaokao, which has enabled around 80 visually impaired candidates to be admitted to universities including Shanghai Normal University and Beijing Jiaotong University.

Read more: What you need to know about China's gaokao

Candidates in seven provinces, including northeast China's Jilin Province and east China's Anhui Province, will take a new model of examination subjects, which include three unified college entrance examination subjects – Chinese, mathematics and English – one preferred subject, chosen from history and physics, and two more subjects, chosen two from the ideology and politics, geography, chemistry and biology.

While the three unified subjects use a national examination paper, the chosen subjects use papers set by each province.

The changes are the result of reforms which aim to allow students to choose from over a dozen subject combinations, instead of just liberal arts and science subjects, so they can excel in their particular areas of interest.

Sun Jinming, a professor from Jiangxi Normal University, wrote in an article about reforms to the gaokao that letting students choose preferred subjects in national college entrance examinations showed the country wants universities not to base their judgement of applicants solely on gaokao scores on three major subjects – Chinese, mathematics and English – but to consider comprehensive assessments on selective subjects as well as evaluations on morality standards, physical health, art cultivation and social practices.

In China, college admission relies primarily on the results from the entrance exam. In 2023, out of 12.91 million applicants, over 10.42 million were admitted to universities and vocational schools, accounting for 80.7 percent, according to data from the Ministry of Education.